LFB 26/2008 - Olesa 69, Ibiza 63

Like the Ros Casares-Extrugasa, one team had more to play for than the other. Olesa (17-9) had an outside chance of moving to fourth place if San Jose lost. For Ibiza (14-12), they could have possibly moved up if Joventut lost but the difference between fourth and fifth is bigger than the difference between sixth and seventh when eight teams go to the playoffs. Olesa secured the 69-63 win and home field advantage in the first round.

I keep reading that there will be only four teams going to the playoffs in the Liga Feminina instead of eight teams; I don't know what to believe. If there were only four places, Olesa had to fight all the much harder.

The box score is here.

Ibiza got off to a slow start, scoring only 10 points in the first ten minutes. Olesa was up 21-10 at the end of the first quarter, and by halftime, the lead was 39-27. Ibiza won each of the remaining quarters, but it wasn't enough to come back and win the game.

Both teams shot evenly well - Olesa hit 41 percent of their field goal attempts and Ibiza hit 40 percent. Ibiza had the edge in rebounding - that's invariably the case when Sancho Lyttle is on your team. Ibiza, however, would turn the ball over 19 times and they sent Olesa to the free throw line 19 times - where Olesa hit 16 of those 19 shots.

Olesa

Cristal Kelly: 14 points and 8 rebounds for the Sacramento Monarchs forward.
Olga Podkovalnikova: 9 points, 9 rebounds.
Anna Cruz Lebrato: 18 points, 7 rebounds, 6 turnovers.

Ibiza

Sancho Lyttle: 17 points, 14 rebounds. Are we really surprised by Sancho's double-doubles anymore?
Silvia Morales: 16 points, 9 rebounds. However, 33 percent shooting.
Shannon Johnson: 4 points on 2-for-10 shooting. Shannon's shooting might be why Ibiza lost the game.